


Hello, You

by elliotdilaurentis99



Category: Mr. Robot (TV), You (TV 2018)
Genre: Abuse, Hospitals, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Injury Recovery, Kidnapping, M/M, Multi, Past Drug Addiction, Past Sexual Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Recovery, Stabbing, Stalking, Survivor Guilt, Vigilante, Yandere
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-02-25 10:33:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22114576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elliotdilaurentis99/pseuds/elliotdilaurentis99
Summary: For years Joe Goldberg has gotten away with almost everything he did and is living his best life with his wife who is as crazy as him, Love Quinn. But later, he sets his sights on a young and beautiful mysterious man in a black hoodie who goes by the name Elliot Alderson. He ends up being smitten by his mysteriousness and decides to go back to his old tricks and mess up and control his life so that Elliot could fall in love with him.Bur little does he know that he just signed himself up for some hell as Elliot is a hacker prodigy, survivor and fighter and has multiple personalities by his side. He has faced guys like him, been abused and manipulated by guys like him, been hurt and left for dead by guys like him. And with his hacking, detective skills and traumatic experience, he is ready to take down his stalker.
Relationships: Darlene Alderson & Elliot Alderson, Elliot Alderson/Mr. Robot
Comments: 5
Kudos: 31





	1. Chapter 1

The sexual abuse that his father put him through, Angela's dead body, being shot by Tyrell, then seeing him walking off into the light when he himself was shot, being beaten up in prison....this all flashed into Elliot's nightmares. Despite defeating Whiterose and ending her reign of terror and merging with his personalities, Elliot still gets nightmares and flashbacks from everything he was put through. Every night, he wakes up with cold sweats and breathlessness, feeling adrenaline rush in his body. His chest and stomach aches every time and his head throbs a lot. Even if Whiterose, Vera and the whole Dark Army and Deus Group is finished, he believes that there is someone out there that wants to get revenge on him and hurt him.

It's been long since he and Darlene took down the Deus Group. Since then, despite his PTSD, Elliot has been trying to make a better life for himself. He got a job as teaching assistant for a Child Psychology course at a college, he has been visiting Krista weekly to help deal with the trauma and they both have been more closer than they were before, Darlene even visits him on some occasions and on Wednesday and Friday evenings, he has set up support groups for survivors of sexual abuse and domestic abuse, in hopes that he can help them get through their trauma and not suffer the same fate like he did. He even meets with Darlene and Dom more often and hangs out with them. He even meets Dom's family during Christmas dinners. He even meets his alters once in a while, especially Mastermind and Mr. Robot. 

One day, when he has to go and get a book for Darlene, a certain shy bookstore owner Joe Goldberg sets his sights on him. He decides to go back to his old tricks to figure out who Elliot Alderson is and control his whole life so that he could be the one for him. But what Joe doesn't know that Elliot is more than just a fragile broken man who has survived encounters like this and will rain down hell upon him if Joe ever harms him or his loved ones...


	2. Who Are You?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elliot asked by Darlene to buy a book that she could give to Dom on her birthday and he goes to Mooney's bookstore where he unfortunately attracts the attention of another crazed psycho, Joe Goldberg, who ends up being obsessed with him on first sight.

It was 9:00 am in the morning, Elliot woke up. He jolted off his bed and stretched out his arms as Flipper ran to him and he bent down and petted her. His phone starts to vibrate on the desk, he picks it up and sees it's Darlene calling. He takes the call and says "Morning." Darlene replies sounding nervous, "Hey, do you know what day is it today?" Elliot replies as he rubs his eyes "Um...it's Friday." 

"Shit. I forgot it's her birthday today." Darlene facepalms at herself for forgetting this important day for her girlfriend Dom. She was so busy that she forgot it was her birthday. She continues "Um...can you do me one favour?" Elliot responds as he rummages through his closet "Sure. What?" Darlene replies "Can you get a favourite book of hers so that I could give it to her tonight? Maybe Catcher in the Rye?" Elliot sighed and tells her "Why can't you do it? Besides I really have a bad hangover headache from last night?" Elliot massages his temple as he laments "God. Why did I drink too much red wine when I know it's going to give me a bad migraine next morning?" Darlene replies "I am so sorry I can't. Besides I have a monthly appointment booked with my gynaecologist. Can you please do it for me please?" Elliot finally gives in and replies "Alright fine. I'll do it." Darlene later instructs him "Okay great. Just give it to me at around 5:00 pm at Little Collins cafe. Love you." Elliot tells her back "Love you too." Before he cuts the call. 

He dresses up in his dark blue Berkley sweatshirt and jeans of the same colour and wears sunglasses to prevent getting hangover headaches and searches for a bookstore to get a birthday gift for Dom, he scrolls down the list of bookstores, but none of them appeal to him enough.

Unsatisfied with most of them, he puts his phone back in the pocket and looks up as sees a bookstore in front of him across the street, _Mooney's._ He looked at the store curiously, wondering that since it looks vintage, they might have the _Catcher In The Rye_ book. He walks towards the bookstore and goes inside.

He opens the glass door as it hits the bell. He takes off his sunglasses and looks around the double decker shelves. Most of them are labelled from A-Z, it looks a bit amish but cozy at the same time. 

Meanwhile, Joe Goldberg is arranging the shelves when he spots Elliot looking around the place. He immediately gets smitten by him, from the looks of it, he could tell that Elliot is a bit curious, a bit aloof but seems really mild mannered and caring. Like he wants to make sure that he gets something special for someone he loves and cares about, because he cares a lot about everyone.

He then sees Elliot turn look at him and ask "Excuse me?" Joe replies "Yes?" Elliot walks toward him as he asks him "Do you happen to have any classic novels around here?" Joe politely replies to him "Yes of course I do. Why do you ask?"

Elliot chuckles and ruffles through his hair as he sheepishly responds "I am really sorry I had to ask that. It's just that I haven't been to a bookstore in a long time, especially years since this whole 5/9 debacle and I had a very bad hangover from last night. So my memory might be really foggy right now." Joe replies "That's okay, you are not the first person who came here recovering from a hangover and survived an economic meltdown." Both chuckle.

Elliot continues as he asks him "So I was gonna ask, do you have _Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger_?" Joe responds "Of course, why don't you follow me to that shelf over there?" Both of them walk towards the shelf A-C, Joe pulls out a ladder and climbs up and removes the book and passes it to Elliot. Elliot observes the cover and admires it's originality as Joe stares at him. Elliot looks up at him and says "Wow. You really take care of the original ones well." Joe timidly responds "Well, I make sure that it doesn't get tarnished." Elliot laughs as he replies "Well you did a good job in making sure of that."

At the billing counter, Elliot buys the book as Joe asks him while doing the billing "So, are you interested in these kind of books?" Elliot answers "Well not so much, I've started getting into it just now. I am more of a technology kind of person. I used to work as a cybersecurity engineer for an earlier company but it got shut down. Now I am a teaching assistant for Child Psychology at Columbia University"

Joe says "Interesting." Elliot continues "Actually this is a birthday gift for my sister's girlfriend. It's her birthday today." Joe gives out an "Oh" The bill gets printed and Joe crossreads it. He reads the name " _Elliot Alderson_ " Joe comments "That's an interesting name." Elliot shrugs "Well, thanks.". Joe packs the book in a paper bag and passes it to Elliot as he tells him "So it was really nice meeting you and thanks for helping me with the book." Joe replies "No worries. Tell your friend I said Happy Birthday." Elliot happily responds as he walks towards the door "I sure will."

Now that Elliot has left, Joe walks towards the window at stares at this beautiful and scrawny young man in a Berkley sweatshirt, wearing his sunglasses and picking up his phone to call someone. He creepily stares at him as he wonders:

_Who really is Elliot Alderson?_

_What makes him who he is now?_

_How much skeletons in the closet does he have?_

_What makes him so broken but beautiful like a_ _Japanese bowl cracks repaired with gold?_

_And finally..._

_Is he the one for him?_


	3. Elliot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joe begins stalking his new obsession, Elliot and gets to know almost everything about him. He even ends up attending a group therapy for abuse survivors set up by him. Mr. Robot ends up being suspicious about him, but decides that they need to wait before they do something about it.

_Elliot Alderson_

_That's such a unique name for someone who is a total tech whiz_

_From the looks of it you seem a little shy, aloof and closed off_

_But underneath all that you have a heart of gold._

_You care so much for your loved ones and you want to do good by them._

_Well, that's how I am. But_ _unfortunately, most of them weren't even grateful for how much I cared for them._

_But good thing is that I am married now to a special someone like I always wanted._

_Yeah we both may be similar but she doesn't have that spark she used to have anymore._

_Not since she killed both Delilah and Candace and framed her own brother for their murders._

_But you, you have that spark. You have that brightness that I've been looking for._

_So that's why I need to know more about you. So that I could protect you from all the madness that happened in this world._

_Especially since the one that almost ended ours. The economic meltdown and Beck and Candace almost ruining my life._

Joe returns to his apartment, where his wife Love Quinn has been waiting for him. He puts his coat on the coat rack as Love asks him from the kitchen "Hey Honey, How was your day at the bookstore?" Joe replies, "It was good." Joe later asks as he enters the kitchen, "How about yours?" Love replies as she makes a pasta dish for him "It was fine. Just had to take care of our child." Joe chuckles and asks "How's she?" Love replies "Well she is sleeping, but she missed her daddy." Joe smiles at her. Though internally he feels that he should be happy that he finally ended up with someone he was obsessed with earlier and was similar to him, but he doesn't feel happy about the fact that she killed Candace and Delilah for him and drove Ellie out of LA. He still remembers the day he saw anger and despair in Ellie's eyes when she told him to burn in hell.

Later that night, while Love is asleep, Joe logs into his laptop to dig up some information about Elliot to know him better. He searches his names on all of the social media in incognito mode. Elliot has recently gotten back on social media ever since he got his original personality back and the Deus Group debacle ended. Though he ended up setting it to private due to his PTSD. Joe decides to create a social media account under the name @Mooneys86 so that he could follow Elliot's accounts and get to know him better. He decides to check his Facebook account as well. 

He sees that while Elliot has an account, he rarely posts anything. His bio reads that his birthday is on September 17th 1986 and he works at Columbia University. His friends only consist of his sister Darlene, her girlfriend Dominique Dipierro and some of his co-workers. Though the last picture that he got tagged in by Dom was at a night out with her and his sister Darlene. Joe deduces that Darlene seems like a wild unruly type of person and thinks that Elliot has a good reason to take care of her. Though she does remind him of Peach and Forty a bit, fearing that she will find out and stop him too, so he needs to be prepared. 

Joe deduces that Elliot might be a bit shy and closed off since he doesn't have a huge social circle around him. _Don't worry Elliot. I will take care of you and give you the life you deserve._ He then spots something at the events section. Elliot has set up a group therapy for survivors of all kinds of abuse, which happens at around Wednesday nights/Saturday afternoons. Joe books an appointment on a Saturday afternoon at around 2:30 pm as Love wakes up and walks out of the bedroom and sees Joe searching on the laptop on their couch. She asks "What are you doing at such late night Joe?" Joe immediately shuts down the window and turns around and tells her "Uh, nothing, just searching for random stuff that's all. Couldn't sleep." Joe shuts his laptop and walks towards her. Love cups his face and tells him "You know I care about you a lot. Especially since what happened in LA. I don't want you to get hurt. That's all." Joe smiles at her and walk back to their bed to go to sleep.

The next day, Joe goes to the group therapy that he booked for at a community centre downtown. As he enters the building, he asks the receptionist "Um, I am Joe Goldberg. I am here for the Abuse survivor group therapy session." The receptionist tells him "Go two doors to the right. That's where it's happening." Joe thanks her and walks towards the room.

As he enters the room, he hears one of the attendants, a woman talk about how she just got out of her abusive relationship from her boyfriend of 2 years. Joe picks up a cookie as he hears her talk about how the man would constantly call her names, slap her and get jealous whenever she is on the phone with someone or is hanging out with them and how he would threaten to kill her if she left him. Joe spots Elliot sitting on the front seat listening to the story. He is wearing an ocean blue shirt with denim blue jeans and is wearing glasses. She ends her story and goes back to her seat. Elliot gets up and stands in front of the attendants as he says "Thank you, Brianna for sharing it with us." He continues "Just like what Brianna said. Sometimes, it can be hard to run away from someone you've been close to for past several years."

Joe gets mesmerised by Elliot's soft and endearing nature as he hears him speak. "I mean they keep on showing that they love us so much while at the same time they constantly tear us down and threaten to kill us. Most of the times we see that as love. To the point that we don't even see the red flags in our relationship with our spouses or our family members." Unfortunately, this triggers a traumatic memory in Elliot's mind: **as Mastermind, he could still remember when Vera forced him to remember his traumatic childhood all over again, he could hear himself scream at the raging thunderstorm, he could see Vera hold his shoulders**.

Elliot pauses, closes his eyes and takes a deep breath and continues "As I was saying, most of the times they threaten to kill us or kill our loved ones and they tell us that we are not worthy without them. And then they become soft and loving towards us and tries to make us forget what they did to us. And we end up getting conflicted whether we should be scared of them or love them despite what they did to us." As Elliot finishes his speech, he tells the support group "Um, thank you all for coming." Everyone begins to get up and leave as Elliot tells them "We'll see you all next time and we promise we will get more cupcakes and coffees as much as you like."

As everyone has left the room, Joe is the only one who stays behind. He walks up to Elliot as he tells him "Well, that was really brave of you to speak up like that about the trauma that all of us go through." Elliot coyly tells him "Thanks" as he collects the empty plates and cleans up the room and Joe helps him out. He tells him "I know it's not easy for you to relive something so traumatic that happened to you. But you are really strong." Elliot replies "Again, thanks." He later recognises Joe and tells him "Um, don't take this the wrong way but, have I seen you somewhere before?"

Joe chuckles and responds "Oh, I am that bookstore guy. Joe. I helped you buy a book for your friend yesterday." Elliot finally remembers and laughs "Oh it's you. I know you." He shakes his hands as Joe asks him "So did your friend like the book?" Elliot smiles as he answers "Yeah, she did." Joe asks him "Do you want me to walk you back home?" Elliot obliges "Sure."

_In the Aldersystem world, Mr. Robot exits the view room and walks down the hallway and enters the conference, where MM!Elliot is waiting for him. He sees Mr. Robot enter and gets up and asks "What's going on? What is so urgent that you called in for an emergency meeting? And where is everyone else?" Mr. Robot nervously settles MM!Elliot down on the chair and tells him "It's better that this is between you and me for now. Elliot met some guy."_

_MM!Elliot puzzled asks "So?" Mr. Robot takes a deep breath and explains "He is not what presents himself as. I fee like he might be really dangerous."_

_MM!Elliot asks him "Do you think he might be like those people that we targeted back then?"_

_Mr. Robot replies "I think." MM!Elliot asks him "Then what do we do? Should I take over again and get to know more about this asshole?"_

_Mr. Robot responds "Not right now. First we need to let Elliot spend some more time with him. But if things go sideways and that guy ends up acting even more suspicious, that's when we have to attack."_


	4. Heal and Move On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elliot and Joe bond over their shared loss and pain as he drops off the latter back to his apartment. The next day, he breaks into his apartment and logs onto his desktop to know what kind of a person is Elliot.

Joe and Elliot are walking downtown towards Elliot's apartment. Elliot tells Joe "So basically I've been through a lot over the past years. I mean I lost most of my best friends because of the Deus Group and now I am trying to recover from all of this now." He ruffles his hair as he continues "I just I want to be a much better person than I was. I want to be away from "old Elliot." " Joe asks him "So, what was the old Elliot like?".

Elliot takes a moment and answers "Well, the old me was more of an outsider. I kinda distrusted the world and the people in it. Because most of them had hurt me and abandoned me." Joe begins to feel bad for him when he hears Elliot say that, he replies to him "I know what that's like. I felt like there was someone in the world who would love me. But unfortunately, some of them didn't accept me for who I was and they broke my heart." Elliot empathetically tells him "I am so sorry this happened with you. But you know if it helps, there are some people out there who care about you." He turns to Joe as he continues "Who love you and no matter how much you push them away. They will always be there for you." Joe looks at him in a loving way, happy that there is some ray of hope for him. Elliot ends his speech by saying "And for all the pain and trauma that I went through. It was the love and care that healed me. Not immediately, but I am gonna be there soon."

_You are right Elliot. Love really does heal us from our pain._

_It heals us from every trauma that we've been through._

_That's why I hold out hope everyday that I will find love someday._

_I tried to with Beck, Candace or Love, but none of those worked._

_Love is still alive though. Though she isn't what I needed the most._

_But you Elliot, you have everything that I need in a partner._

_A partner that I could heal with._

_A partner that could love me for who I am._

_A partner who could help me move on from the pain I suffered._

_And you are the one Elliot._

_And I promise whatever pain you've been through, I am here for you._

Joe and Elliot reach Elliot's apartment complex. Joe comments "That's a really nice place you got there. Really down to earth." Elliot coyly says "Oh, thanks. I mean I thought people wouldn't like it that much. Even if it looks much better than before." Joe assures him "No. I think it looks nice. Inside it must be a bit cozy." 

Elliot asks "Do you want to come in and check it out?" Joe hesitates, "Uh, you know what? I have someplace else to be. So maybe some other time?"

Elliot says "Okay then. I'll see you next week." They both say bye to each other before Elliot walks back into his apartment. Joe looks at him infatuated with him. He analyses him as a smart and kind but damaged person who cares so much for other people. Joe immediately decides that he wants to be part of Elliot's life so that they could "heal" together. Though he even has to make an efficient plan to make sure that Love doesn't catch him.

Later that night, Joe goes in front of Elliot's apartment to spy on him through his window, but unfortunately his windows are covered by binders. He senses that Elliot might be a serious about his own safety and privacy. So he plans on visiting his apartment the next day when Elliot goes for his morning jog.

At 7:00 am, Joe goes to Elliot's apartment when Elliot has left for jogging. He got the number of Elliot's landlord and lied to him that Elliot asked him to pick something up from his apartment that he forgot the other day, so the landlord opens Elliot's apartment 4E for him. Joe tells the landlord "Thanks for understanding. I really needed the files I left at his place." The landlord tells him "No problem. Send Elliot my regards, Oh and you might need to meet his lovely pet Flipper. She is really loving and welcoming towards everyone." Joe says "Okay" and enters 4E. 

He sees that the apartment has only one room which consists of only the sofa, dining table, kitchen, bed and a working desk. Joe sees Flipper, a small female black cairn terrier sleeping on her bed. Joe snoops around quietly so that he won't wake the dog up. He sees that Elliot mostly eats frozen foods, vegan foods and takeout, mostly pizza and Chinese. _I promise you Elliot, you don't need all this anymore, I will cook for you._

He looks around more, he checks Elliot's drawers and removes one of his boxer shorts and puts them in his jacket pocket. He later snoops into the second drawer and finds a CD binder. He opens it and sees that Elliot listens to Blur, The Cure, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Paramore etc. Joe notes that while Elliot may look sweet and humble, he does have some unique choices in music. 

_Wow. You look like a perfect nerd angel on the outside but you do have some really unique choices in music._

He later logs onto Elliot's HP computer and sees that he has two users on his desktop, one of which is private which makes him curious. So he opens the main user instead. He checks the files and sees pictures of him hanging out with his co-workers and some of the others hanging out with Darlene and Dom. He later opens another file which shows a childhood pictures with his dad, especially the one where both of them are cosplaying Marty and Doc from Back to the Future. He thinks:

_Wow, you seemed to be so close with your dad. And you rarely have any pictures with your mother. It seems like she gave you a very hard time. Especially after you lost your dad. I am really sorry you had to go through that. You deserve so much better. What kind of a mother would treat their_ _children like that. Especially since he just lost his dad. I did have an abusive dad once, but to protect my mother I killed him. She told me that it was okay because I saved her. So we both had crappy parents Elliot. Don't worry, I will help you with that. You need me._

He then opens another file. It contains a few memorials for his dead friends. One of them that he finds is that of a blue eyed blonde woman named Angela Moss, who died on Oct 21st 2015. He opens another one for a woman named Shayla Nico, who died on April 1st 2015. He opens another memorial for Tyrell Wellick and 3 more for Leslie Romero, Sunil Markesh aka Mobley and Shama Biswas aka Trenton. He heard about the other two though, they were the ones who were framed as terrorists tied to Iran who caused the cybevbombings, but after the Deus Group was exposed, their names have been cleared since then.

_I had no idea that you were friends with these two. The ones who were framed as terrorists by the corporate group. Even if they were branded as that, you still believed in them. You see good in a lot of people, Elliot. I hope you will someday find it in me._

He looks outside the window and sees Elliot coming out of a grocery store after his jogging. Joe scrambles to hide before he returns, he gets out of the apartment and sees that next to it, there is an apartment that has been empty for 4 years. He decides to hide in there. He looks through the peephole and sees Elliot coming back from his jog and enter his apartment. He later puts his ear on the wall so that he could hear Elliot talking with someone.

 _"So how was your morning?"_ He hears Elliot ask the caller. He realises that he could be talking to Darlene. He continues hearing him talk to her " _I told you not to drink so much scotch. You know what happens when you drink that_?"

Joe could tell that Elliot is extremely protective of his sister. He could tell that they both love each other and care for each other and have this close bond that helps them deal with trauma.

Joe analyses that Elliot is a really kind-hearted person who cares a lot for so many people, no matter who they are and what they do to him. So Joe decides to make a plan to make sure that he gets Elliot to open up to him, just so he could be the one who will protect Elliot from this cruel world.


	5. One Drunken Magical Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joe stalks Elliot to learn more about his schedule, especially one night when he even follows him to a nightclub where he hangs out with Darlene and Dom. Joe decides to join the 5/9 trio and after one drink or ten, he and Elliot have a night of passion where Elliot begins to open up about what his life was like.
> 
> TW: CSA.

Joe waits inside the empty apartment for a while, he hears Elliot enter the bathroom to take a shower. He quickly exits the empty apartment and sneaks back into Elliot's apartment. He checks to see Flipper back to her sleeping position on Elliot's bed. Joe picks up Elliot's phone from the kitchen counter. He uses the TTSPY app on his phone to connect to Elliot's, just so he could monitor everything that he does. Suddenly, Flipper wakes up and barks when she sees Joe. He attempts to shush the dog as Elliot hears her barks and asks "Flipper, what's going on?". Joe hears Elliot switching off the shower and he immediately rushes out of the bathroom.

Elliot comes out of the bathroom wrapped in towel. He comes to Flipper on his bed and asks her as he pets her "Who were you barking at? If it was a ghost, trust me it's gone." and chuckles. Joe immediately rushes out of the apartment complex.

_Finally. I connected my phone to yours now._

_That way, I can keep a track of what your schedule is and who are you going to meet._

_I know it sounds kinda stalkery. But I have to do this to keep you safe._

_And now that Love is going on a 5 Months trip with her family for a retreat in Havana_

_I can finally have you to myself._

_It's gonna be an amazing 5 Months with you, Elliot._

_You will love it._

Over the next week, Joe begins to note down everything that Elliot does in his everyday life.

At 6:30 am, he goes for his morning walk with Flipper.

At 9:00 am, he arrives at Columbia University for his job as a teaching assistant at Child Psychology.

Then at around 8:00 p.m., he goes on a night out with his co-workers.

Joe visits a nightclub, where Elliot is hanging out with his fellow co-workers. He wears his cap and enters the nightclub. As soon as he enters, he sees that it is crowded at this, with most people dancing around and hanging out. He slips into the crowd and finally reaches the beeline of the bar. He sits there and orders a scotch and sees Elliot chatting with his co-workers. Elliot and one of the proffessors, arrive at the bar beeline. Joe spots them sitting 3 chairs across from him.

He hears their conversation as Ben shows Elliot the pictures of him and his fiancee and fellow teacher Jessica. Elliot turns to Ben and excitedly tells him "This is so amazing. How long were you guys engaged for?" Ben responds "For about 6 months now. Since Jess and I've been together for so long, we decided to be together forever. " Elliot praises "That's so cute." He later asks him, So when is the big day" Ben replies "Well, we haven't decided that yet, but maybe somewhere around Jan/Feb next year." The bartender offers the two Long Island Ice Teas to both of them as Ben asks Elliot "So, how's your life? Did you find anyone in your life yet?" 

Elliot takes a sip of his Long Island Ice Tea and he replies "Well, no one yet." 

"Oh come on, no boyfriends or girlfriends yet?" Ben remarks. He continues "C'mon Elliot. You've been by yourself for past 3-4 years."

"But..."

"And one night flings don't count." He asks Elliot "Why aren't you still ready to date anyone yet?"

Joe overhears Elliot as he explains to Ben "Well, I've been through a lot for so many years and in those years there were some people who hurt me and I lost them. One thing I learnt is that if you end up finding someone you love, you might end up losing them pretty soon. The only one who is still with me is Darlene. We've helped each other to recover from these past years. I feel like for now I don't need to find someone else for now."

Ben asks Elliot "I appreciate all this but what about that bookstore guy who was at your group therapy session? He seemed really cute."

Elliot comments "Yeah, he seemed really nice and charming but I don't think I should just jump into it yet. I don't even know that much about him yet. I just met the dude. Who knows what kind of a guy he is?" Joe doesn't look satisfied with Elliot's comments about him as he thinks:

_Oh come one, what kind of a guy am I? I am trying to be charming, polite and caring with you. What else do you wanna know?_

Elliot removes his phone and Joe removes his own phone to check on what the former is planning. He sees that Elliot is planning on meeting Darlene and Dom together at Conolly's Pub & Restaurant on a Friday night. Which is good because that's the same day Love is leaving for Cuba with her family. He sets the plan for Friday night, he will visit Conolly's to stalk Elliot meeting Darlene and Dom. He will later come to their table and greet them and tell them that he didn't know that they were there and join them as a double date. 

_So it's ready, set, date. Elliot. Can't wait to see you tomorrow._

On Friday, Joe drops Love to the airport. She reminds him of a few chores with their baby daughter Emma. "Okay, you have to remember that she needs to be fed properly, you have to change her diapers everyday and make sure she sleeps properly." Joe reassures her "Don't worry, we both will do fine and I promise I will stay faithful to you no matter what." He hugs her as he says "It will be okay. Enjoy your trip."

_Oh she will definitely enjoy her trip. I know that she has put up almost every moves to make sure that she keeps an eye on me when she is gone. But don't worry, I prerecorded almost every activity that I did and with the help of an expert technician, I put it in the camera so that Love could know that I am not doing anything to make her suspicious. So that means, I can give all my time and energy Elliot. See you tonight._

Later that night, Joe hires a babysitter for Emma and arrives at Conolly's to spy on Elliot hanging out with Darlene and Dom at the table. He sits at the bee line of the bar and observes the three of them sitting at the counter chatting together, having fun. He removes his phone to check on who Darlene and Dom are. He searches for Darlene's name on most of the social media websites, though she only has a private Instagram and only 5 people follow her. And he later searches for Dom's profile and she has a Facebook account where she share pictures of mostly with her extended family and he finds out that she works for the FBI where she is now a chief. He even notices that she had some involvement with the whole Deus Group fiasco.

_I sense that your sister and her girlfriend are the type of people who don't share that much of their life on social media._

_It seems unlike most of the millennials, you guys prefer to keep your lives private. Nice._

_But I need to be careful of Dom because she is part of the law enforcement, so I better make sure I don't do anything to make her suspicious._

After taking a sip of beer, Joe prepares himself for the double date plan and casually walks towards them. He calls "Elliot?", the trio turn to see Joe walking towards them as Elliot asks him "Hey Joe. What are you doing here?" Joe replies "Well it's Friday night, so I thought what nice way to spend it by being here and having fun alone. I didn't know I'd run into you guys." 

Elliot says "Oh, um why don't you join us?" Joe obliges "Sure."

Elliot shifts back so that he could give Joe some space on the couch. 

Elliot introduces Joe to Darlene and Dom "Joe, this is my sister Darlene and that's her girlfriend Dominique, you can just call her Dom." Joe shakes their hands as he says "Pleasure to meet you both." Darlene greets him "It's really nice to meet you." 

Elliot describes Dom to Joe "Oh and did I tell you Dom is part of the law enforcement?" Joe replies

"I didn't know that part." He jokingly tells Dom "Are you gonna arrest me now?" Dom replies "Yes." leaving Joe in utter silence. D

Dom breaks the tension by laughing and saying "I am kidding." Everyone else begins to laugh with Joe only letting out a nervous chuckle.

Darlene asks Joe "So, what do you do?" Joe replies "Well I work as a bookstore manager at Mooney's." 

Dom asks him, "So you seem like the bookish kind of guy?"

Joe responds "Yep."

Dom asks him "So which authors do you like the most?"

Joe replies, "Well if it were a top 3 then I probably should say: 1. H.G. Wells 2. Agatha Christie and 3. J.D. Salinger"

Elliot points out "Oh I love J. D Salinger. I really liked his book "The Catcher in the Rye. I read in it prison once."

Joe once again is left in stunned silence before Elliot breaks the tension saying "I am kidding." And everyone begins to laugh.

_Okay fine I got it. You guys were joking but can you stop faking out? It's scaring me._

One hour and a few drinks later.

All for of them are a little drunk but not like dead drunk after taking too many beers and wines.

Elliot asks Joe "Have you ever read From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweller?" 

Joe replies "I have heard of it but I haven't read it yet."

Elliot tells him "You should, it's a classic. My friend used to love this book when she was a child. She told me that she wanted to be like Claudia Kincaid."

Darlene, Joe and Dom stare at him and listens to him intently as Elliot continues to talk "Like her, she was also very brave and outgoing. You know? As kids we'd always want to run away to the Met. Whenever we'd always feel like running away from all the pain and sadness, we'd always go to that place. It was like a safe haven for us." All three of them look at Elliot empathetically. Darlene the most, because Angela was her friend too. Elliot breaks the trance and says "Um, what are we doing talking about sad stuff? How about we order some shots?"

Darlene says "Elliot, it's ok. You don't have to drink too much."

Elliot says "C'mon. We came here to have fun. So let's have fun."

Few more drinks later, Elliot and Joe are completely tanked.Both try to climb up the stairs but they both stumble back. Elliot chuckles and quietly says "Sorry." Both manage to climb up the stairs and both of them enter the apartment. 

Elliot slurs his words as he tells Joe "Well tonight's kinda fun." Joe laughs loudly and responds "You are right it was." 

Joe tells him "I don't think I've ever been this drunk before."

Elliot tells him "Well then this is your first." and accidentally kisses him.

Both of them pull back and get stunned.

After a few moments of silence, Both of them kiss again passionately as both of them begin to remove each others clothes and Elliot throws Joe on the bed and begins to kiss him as they begin to make out for almost the entire night.

Later at night at around 2:30 am, Elliot ends up having nightmares again. He begins to scream, sweat and move around restlessly and wakes up Joe. Joe tries to calm him down by pinning his shoulders and legs on the bed as he calls him and Elliot's eyes shoot up awake. Joe reassures Elliot "It's me. Everything is okay. You just had a nightmare." Elliot stares at him for a while before he blurts out "I think I am gonna be sick." Joe immediately gets off him and Elliot rushes to the bathroom to throw up.

Few minutes later, Joe brews up some hot tea to make Elliot feel better after getting sick, who is now wearing a jersey sweatshirt and lounging on his couch. Joe gives him the cup and Elliot takes it. He takes a sip as Joe sits beside him and asks him "How are you feeling?" Elliot replies "Better, thanks."

He later tells Joe "I am sorry about tonight. Usually I am not that kind of person. A total hot mess."

Joe reassures him "It's okay. You don't have to apologise."

Elliot decides to open up to him as he informs Joe "Um Joe can I tell you something?"

Joe replies "Sure"

Elliot starts to tell the story: "I didn't have a very perfect childhood. In fact my whole life was very shitty." Joe starts to listen to him as Elliot continues, "When I was a kid, my parents....they both were very shitty with me and Darlene. My mom, she would constantly beat us up and insult us and use our arms as her personal human ashtray after our dad died due to leukemia caused by E Corp's negligence. Well, Deus Group's doing. There was this one time where Darlene had gotten a kitten and my mom forced us to get rid of it by throwing it in the ocean. But instead Darlene ran off and when she came back my mom gave her a bruised arm and bloody lip. This was one of the reasons why she ran away."

Joe later asks him as he stares as his beautiful but broken and flushed out face "And what about your dad?"

Elliot turns to him in silence as he struggles to recall almost every horrible thing his dad did to him. Struggling to hold tears, he finally lets it out "He...he would come into my room every night and he would constantly do these horrible things with me...I thought of him as my best friend. I though he was there for me when my mom hurt me." he struggles to breath as he continues "And then when one day when he was about to come into my room to do something else with me. I hid Darlene in the closet and then I jumped out the window and hurt my head. I just feel like someone took over me and tried to protect me from my monster. I can't even remember what he did to me without breaking down."

Joe tries to rub his back but Elliot averts from him. Not wanting to be touched.

Joe tells Elliot "I understand what that was like." Elliot looks up to him as Joe continues "I didn't go through the same thing as you did but, I was also abused by my father. My mom was my only best friend. My dad would constantly beat her and this caused her to cheat on him so that she could be away from him. She even got a gun and hid it in the closet just in case it got worse. And he would also constantly treat me like a human ashtray whenever he would get mad. Then one day when his beatings got worse, I took out the gun and shot him."

Elliot mutters "Oh my god."

Joe tells him "I know. Then my mom told me that I was a good boy and did this to protect her. Then she sent me to the social services because she felt like that she wasn't good enough for me. So I was left with Mr. Mooney. He took me under his wing and trained me in ways that weren't typical, but I feel like they were right for me."

Elliot asks him "In what ways?"

Joe later tells him "Maybe it's best I don't talk more about it. Especially after what you told me."

Elliot says "You are right. I think it's enough for tonight."

Joe helps Elliot lie back down on his bed and instead of lying down with him. Joe sleeps on the couch.

Before sleeping, Joe stares at Elliot's beautiful sleeping face and gives a smile before he finally closes his eyes and falls to a deep slumber.


	6. How Are You?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been 2 weeks since Elliot opened up to Joe about facing sexual abuse. They haven't talked to each other that much since. Mr. Robot and the Mastermind begin to grow suspicious of Joe and discusses with Elliot to let MM take over to find out more about who Joe is and prefers not to jump to conclusions about him yet until they find out more about him. An old friend returns to visit Elliot.

_Inside Elliot's mind world._

_MM!Elliot runs into the conference room, as he enters, he sees Mr. Robot already waiting for him. "Okay what the hell was that?" MM!Elliot asked._

_"Something isn't right about this guy." Mr. Robot responds._

_Mr. Robot asks him"So what do we do? Should we do something right now?"_

_Elliot responds "Not yet. If we attack now, then he will find it suspicious that something is off about him. What if he will end up using it against him?"_

_Mr. Robot "You are right. We don't know much about him yet. He might get to us before we end up getting to him."_

_MM!Elliot tells him, "We just need to see how it goes before we do anything else"._

* * *

_It's been two weeks since I last saw you, Elliot._

_I don't blame you though. You had a really terrible childhood._

_What kind of a monster would do that to his own son? If I would go back in time, I'd make sure to take down that motherfucker like I did with Ron._

_Because honestly Elliot, you deserve way better than this._

_And besides, Love can't even suspect what I am doing because I recorded myself doing the same things so that she wouldn't know what I am up to, so jokes on her._

Joe tells Love on the phone "Okay sweetie, I miss you too, Bye." Joe cuts the phone as he gets a message on the answering machine.

 _"Hey, Joe. It's me Elliot_."

Joe instantly comes out and hears the message.

" _I know it's been 2 weeks since we last saw each other. I just wanted to let you know that I am doing fine. I was thinking if we can meet up at Tom's coffee shop today. I need to talk to you. I hope you got this."_

Joe instantly smiles hearing that Elliot wants to meet him despite the fact that he just confided in him about his shitty past. Everything is okay between them.

_No worries._

Joe waits for Elliot in the cafe, he smirks as he sees him enter and he politely greets him, "Hey, Elliot."

"Hey, Joe."

They both sit down as Elliot tells him. "Listen, Joe, there are some things you should know about me."

Joe obliges "Sure go ahead."

Elliot takes a deep breath as he starts. "I am not that much of an easy person to be with as I seem."

Joe asks "What are you talking about?"

Elliot continues, "Just promise me I can trust you with this."

Joe simply nods as Elliot continues "Because of my childhood trauma, I've been dealing with a lot of mental illnesses lately. Depression, Anxiety and Insomnia. I attended therapy for all these issues. And I've been taking meds to deal with all these issues. I just wanted someone to support me in all this. I already have my sister, but then I can't burden her with all this. Joe, I don't want to burden you with what kind of a person I am."

Joe tries to touch Elliot's hands but he hesitates as he reassure him. "Don't worry Elliot, you are not burdening me."

_Truth is. I am the one that's burdening you, Elliot._

_I promise you that I will be the one that will heal you from your sorrow._

_I promise._

* * *

In the subway on their way back home, Elliot rests his head on Joe's shoulders, who is smiling that Elliot wanted to be with him finally and he was the one who could help him heal from his trauma. Now he just needs to charm his friends as well and then he is good to go.

As Joe and Elliot walk back home, Joe sees a black man with dreadlocks and wearing a grey shirt and camouflage jacket, waiting on the couch smoking weed. 

"Sup, man?" 

"Leon?" Elliot asks. "How are you?"

"I am good cuz." Leon responds as he hi-fives Elliot.

_Cuz? What kind of people did you come across, Elliot? And how do they know you?_

Leon spots Joe and asks "Yo, who is this gentleman right there?"

Elliot introduces Joe to Leon "Oh um, this is my boyfriend Joe, Joe this is Leon, my best friend."

"Nice to meet you." Joe extends his hand to shake but Leon instead gives him a five.

"Okay"

Leon tells him "I gotta tell you. Thank you for taking care of my boy Elliot. But if you gotta hurt him, you gotta deal with me first."

Joe is silent for a while before Leon chuckles and tells him "I am just kidding, bro."

Joe nervously laugh as he thinks:

_Wow, I first might need to impress this...Leon guy here. I gotta find out who he really is and how does he know Elliot?_


End file.
